When my husband and I set foot inside our local Whole Foods this weekend it was crazy busy as you might expect before a holiday. We decided to divide and conquer our list and we each took half. When he returned he had arms full of the items I sent him off for and then... he also had a tree. A rosemary tree!

Technically speaking, rosemary was on his list of things to get and our local store had these rosemary trees up for grabs at just $9.99 (instead of $3-$4/box). Not really sure what I was going to do with an entire shrub in my kitchen, but excited at the price point we tossed it in the cart and brought it home. We've since named it Roger (because it just didn't seem like a Sally) and have been in love with the intoxicating smell it's given our dining room.

It's enough rosemary to take us through heavy handed flavorful dishes of the fall and right on past Thanksgiving. Since we've had it the last few days, it's even started to grow bigger, taller and we're assuming stronger. It's tag says it likes dry soil and light and we're totally down with a plant we can set in the sun and forget about for a week or two without having to re-water it.

If you're not using them for your own culinary adventures they would be a most amazing gift for a friend or family member who has you over for dinner or cocktails. Instead of something trivial, bring something that will not only fill their house with a great smell, but be able to be used over the next several months in their holiday cooking as well. For less than $10, it's a great find!

(PS, thanks for overlooking the extreme shadows our tall windows place on everything we photograph and also our scribbles on our dining room table. That's the bonus about having an extra large DIY table made from doors is that you can cover it with brown paper and take notes and doodle!)